


If you’ve got it, haunt it

by FiresideGuitar (Defy_them)



Series: Jumping into the timejump [6]
Category: The Last of Us (Video Games)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Dina POV, F/F, Family, Fluff, Halloween, Halloween 2020, Just these three cuties having a fun time at the farm, Missing Scene, One-Shot, Romance, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:28:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27304141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Defy_them/pseuds/FiresideGuitar
Summary: Anything in here?Just halloween stuff.Some of this stuff is funny-looking....I’m not a fan.Dina enlists JJ’s help to give Ellie one good Halloween memory.A cute and fluffy one-shot for Halloween 2020 :)
Relationships: Dina & JJ (The Last of Us), Dina/Ellie (The Last of Us), Ellie & JJ (The Last of Us)
Series: Jumping into the timejump [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1910350
Comments: 14
Kudos: 87





	If you’ve got it, haunt it

**Author's Note:**

> FYI, this one-shot ties into my ongoing [timejump series](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1910350). But you don't have to have read it to enjoy this :)

_Anything in here?_

_Just halloween stuff._

_Some of this stuff is funny-looking._

_...I’m not a fan._

“We’ll see who’s not a fan of Halloween after this, won’t we JJ?” Dina said, catching her son as he made yet another attempt to escape the tub. 

She set him back down into the bubbly water with a steady hand then reached for a cup floating behind him. After plunging it underwater, she held the full cup above JJ’s head and used her other hand to shield his eyes as she poured the water over him. JJ squealed in delight, clapping his hands together and wiggling his chubby little legs. The movement sent splashes of water towards Dina.

“Hey, you stinky little goober! This bath is meant to be for you, not me!” She tickled his belly, which just made him even more excited. He bounced up and down gleefully, sending a wave of water up the side of the tub and completely soaking the front of Dina’s shirt.

She looked down at her shirt and laughed. “Okay I brought that one on myself. Good thing I’m not dressed yet.”

Dina reached for the towel she had left on the corner of the sink and unfolded it. She scooped JJ out of the bathtub, pulling the plug to drain the water before she stood with him in her arms. He squirmed around in the towel until Dina freed his head from its copious folds. 

JJ looked up at her with a grin. Dina had loved his gummy smile, but the two teeth that had suddenly emerged from his top gum a couple of weeks ago made him look adorably goofy. She planted a kiss on his tiny nose and took him to the changing table in the bedroom.

With his black hair sticking up in every direction and his tiny teeth bared, JJ looked like a wild animal after Dina had finished towelling him off. She chuckled at the sight, then booped his nose with a finger.

She expertly bundled him up in a cloth diaper and then picked up the red onesie she had set aside earlier. Of all of JJ’s clothes, this was the one that most closely matched her vision for today. She had to hide it after their last laundry day to make sure Ellie didn’t dress him in it before now.

As usual, it suddenly felt like JJ had ten limbs as Dina attempted to wrestle him into the onesie. He giggled as Dina failed, yet again, to get his right foot through the leg hole. She looked to the side of the room with his cot, opened her mouth and pointed suddenly.

“Oh my goodness JJ, what’s that?!”

JJ stopped laughing and cocked his head in the direction Dina was pointing in. She took advantage of his distracted state to get JJ’s leg and both his arms into the onesie. 

“Ah JJ, my beautiful little idiot. That was like taking candy from a baby.” Dina smiled at her hilarious little joke. JJ returned his attention to Dina at the sound of her voice and stuck his hand into his mouth.

“Gee, tough crowd,” Dina said as she started to do up the snap closures on the front of the onesie. When she reached his belly, Dina leaned in and blew a raspberry on it. JJ gurgled at the sensation, and Dina could feel his fists lightly bouncing off the top of her head.

When JJ was finally dressed, Dina left him on the changing table so she could get changed herself. Then she picked her son up and took him downstairs.

She headed to the room that was half her sewing room and half JJ’s playroom. He reached out and made grasping motions with his hands towards the pile of toys Dina had forgotten to put away, but she shook her head.

“Not right now, sorry bud,” Dina said, turning instead to the box of scrap fabric she kept by her desk. She bent down, balancing JJ on her hip so she had a hand free to rummage through the box. Eventually, she found what she was looking for and held it up for JJ to inspect.

It was a piece of dark blue silk about the size of a pillowcase. Tiny specks of bright silver were dusted across its surface, making the whole thing shimmer in the light as Dina turned it over in her hand.

JJ reached out and tried to grab a handful in his fist, eyes widening in surprise when the smooth material slipped through his fingers. Dina held it closer so he could try again. This time he managed to hold onto it.

“There’s my superhero. Aren’t you such a strong little boy,” Dina cooed as she sat JJ on top of her desk. She made sure to keep his back supported as she tied the material around him. She grabbed a safety pin from her sewing kit and pinned the knot to his onesie so it wouldn’t slip back and press against his neck.

Cape done, Dina retrieved JJ and walked to the dining room. She held onto the back of the high chair and dragged it towards the kitchen until it was next to the sink. She put JJ in his chair then picked up the frying pan that she had purposefully not washed with the rest of the morning dishes. Ellie had used it to cook their breakfast and the congealed grease was still stuck to the sides.

Dina ran her finger around the edge of the pan, collecting a small amount of the grease before rubbing her hands together to distribute it across her palms. She turned to JJ, who was watching her expectantly.

“Now...I know I get mad at your mom when she plays in the mud with you,” Dina started, “but this is a special occasion. Mama says that it’s okay for you to be a _little_ bit gross today.”

JJ babbled nonsense, which Dina took as an endorsement of her reasoning. She ran her hands through JJ’s hair, slicking it forward so that it came to a point in the middle of his forehand, the grease holding the hairstyle perfectly in place.

“Who’s my handsome boy?”

The question was met with more babbling as Dina quickly washed her hands and the frying pan, leaving it to dry on the counter next to them. “That’s right, it’s you!” Dina exclaimed proudly, like JJ had just told her the meaning of life.

She picked him up again and returned to the multipurpose downstairs room, going to the side with JJ’s toys this time. She glanced at the window that overlooked the path between the front gate and the fence.

That morning she had sat down with Ellie and they had written up their fortnightly list of supplies to get from Jackson. Ellie had left with the list and Japan before lunch, so she was due back any minute.

Dina set JJ down on the floor and flopped down next to him. She brought a couple of toys within his reach and, making sure she didn’t accidentally mess up his hairstyle, played with him while she waited for Ellie to return.

\---

“Dina, I’m back!”

JJ squealed at the sound of Ellie’s voice. Dina scooped him up off the floor and went to greet her girlfriend. When she reached the end of the hallway that ran alongside the stairs, she spotted Ellie by the front door. She was facing away from Dina, holding onto the door handle to keep her balance as she unlaced her boots.

Ellie started rattling off the report of her outing. “No luck on the horse blanket, Japan will just have to keep using our old sheets for now. Anne came through for us at least: plenty of bandages and rubbing alcohol. Might as well be ready for when JJ starts walking, if he’s anything like his dad he’s going to be falling over all the time. Robin says hi by the w—whaaaat is this?”

Ellie had finally turned around and caught sight of them. Dina held JJ up to give Ellie a good view of him. “Isn’t our son spectacular?”

“He sure is,” Ellie said with a small smile. “A spectacular little...um, what is he meant to be exactly?”

“I couldn’t decide what JJ should be for his first Halloween, vampire...” Dina said, pausing to gesture at his hairstyle and pull JJ’s lower lip down to expose his two baby teeth, “...or superhero...” she continued, holding out his cape as a demonstration, “...so I went with both! I’ll leave you to come up with a horrendous name for that combination.”

Dina stepped forward to give Ellie a kiss, but JJ was quick to voice his disapproval of being squished between his two moms. Dina smiled and took a step back to give him some more space.

“Halloween...I had forgotten,” Ellie said, a sad note creeping into her voice.

Dina hesitated. She knew Ellie didn’t like Halloween, but was hoping she would be at least open to what Dina had planned. JJ must have been thinking the same — right away, he held his hands out towards Ellie. Dina’s breath caught in her throat. She had noticed that he was getting more and more attuned to their voices. He must have picked up the change in Ellie’s tone.

“Oh, I think someone wants to say hello,” she said, handing him over for Ellie to cradle in her arms. He pressed his tiny little hand against Ellie’s chest, and she couldn’t help but smile at him.

“Hey spud,” Ellie murmured, the sadness gone from her voice as she kissed the top of his head. She pulled a face and looked back up at Dina. “Ew Dina. What is that?”

Dina gave her a sheepish smile. “It...might be the leftover grease from breakfast.”

Ellie licked her lips. “The breakfast where I made hash browns?”

“Maybe.”

Ellie held JJ out at arm’s length. “Oh my god, Potato! Look at you, connecting with your ancestors! How do you feel?”

JJ, of course, had no idea what was going on. But both of his moms were grinning at him, so he kicked his feet in the air and gurgled happily.

“Is Japan back in the barn?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Follow me. Bring JJ.”

Ellie raised an eyebrow, but followed behind Dina as they climbed upstairs.

Dina collected the beanie that she had left on the round post at the top of the stairs. She had knitted it for Ellie last winter. Ellie joined her on the landing and Dina tugged the beanie on over Ellie’s hair.

“Ta-daaa! Now you’re in costume too.”

“Costume?”

“Yes, you are now winter Ellie. Wow! What an amazing transformation!”

Ellie snorted and looked down at JJ. “I have a very important question for you, spud...has your mama been smoking weed?”

Dina lightly slapped Ellie’s upper arm. “Hey! You know I wouldn’t do that while I’m still breastfeeding.”

“I know, I know. I’m kidding. You _are_ acting really weird though. You can’t blame me for checking with the boss man.”

“The trick-or-treating is his idea, actually.”

“The what?”

“My mom told me about it. It’s something kids used to do on Halloween. Here,” she said, holding out a small plastic bowl, “hold this for him.”

Ellie reached out the hand that wasn’t holding JJ and accepted the bowl. “Okay...now what?”

Dina grinned and turned on her heel, walking into their bedroom and shutting the door behind her. Earlier that day she had brought the wide-brimmed straw hat that she used for gardening to the room, as well as a small basket of freshly-picked strawberries. She quickly put the hat on and picked up the basket.

“Uh...Dina?” Ellie called out awkwardly, the sound of her voice muffled by the door.

“You have to knock!”

Dina heard some shifting noises coming from the other side of the door, followed by a few sharp taps. She flung the door open with a grin.

“Hi?” Ellie said, glancing at Dina’s hat for a second before lifting the hand holding the bowl to give her a small wave. JJ saw the action and flapped his arm enthusiastically at his mama.

“No no no, you have to say ‘trick or treat’.”

“Oh, okay…trick or treat?”

Dina beamed. “My my my, look at these two gorgeous kids at my door. Who are you meant to be?”

Ellie frowned in confusion. “Um, Ellie and JJ?”

Dina rolled her eyes. “Your _costumes,_ Ellie. Well, since it’s your first time, I guess I’ll give you a treat anyway. But you can do better than that.” She reached into her basket and held out a single strawberry.

JJ’s eyes widened at the appearance of the fruit. They had only started him on occasional solid foods a couple of weeks ago, but it didn’t take long for him to figure out that the small red berries had a taste to die for.

“A treat for you…” Dina said, dropping the strawberry into the bowl that Ellie was holding, “...and a treat for you.” Dina leaned in and kissed Ellie on the cheek.

But when Ellie tried to turn her head and catch Dina’s lips with her own, Dina pulled away. “You can do better than that,” she repeated with a smirk.

No one was paying attention to JJ, a situation that he took advantage of by taking a swipe at the bowl. Ellie quickly held it out of his reach. He huffed, an early sign of an impending tantrum, but Ellie soothed him with a couple of lively bounces on her hip.

“Not yet bud. We’ve got to work for these treats — your mama is suddenly very difficult to please.” She looked at Dina with a smile. “Now what? Can we try again?”

Dina breathed an internal sigh of relief that Ellie was warming to the game. She screwed up her face and acted like she was considering Ellie’s request. “Hmmmmm...I suppose I can give you another chance. Alright turn around, face the stairs.”

Dina took her hat off and threw it back on their bed, but kept the basket of strawberries with her as she crossed the landing behind Ellie and stepped into the bathroom. She closed the door behind her and pulled her towel off the rail. She quickly bent at the waist, letting her head fall forward and draping the towel across the back of it. She twisted the towel up, adjusting her usual bun in its folds so it sat comfortably on top of her head.

“Oooh, where did mama go?”

Dina smiled as she heard Ellie’s voice coming from the other side of the door.

“She was _right_ here. Did she _disappear?_ Did she turn _invisible?_ I just have _no_ idea.”

Ellie was really playing it up for JJ and, judging by the delightful gurgles that Dina could hear, he was loving every second of it. The distinctive creak of one of the floorboards signalled that Ellie was approaching the bathroom. A second later, there was a knock at the door.

When Dina opened the door, Ellie raised the hand holding the bowl up in triumph. “Found mama!”

Dina put on a frown. “I just got out of the shower. Who are you and what do you want?”

“Oh shit I forgot. Um, trick or treat!” Ellie added quickly, adjusting her hold of their son as she gave Dina a winning smile. “Killer Frost and Morbius the Living Vampire are here and demand treats.”

Dina raised an eyebrow. “Should I know who those two are?”

“Frost is a badass. She has the whole ‘a woman scorned’ thing and goes on a quest for revenge. Plus she has fucking awesome ice powers. And Morbius is like THE antihero. He tries treating this rare blood disease he has but instead gives himself vampire superpowers. Super-strength, super-speed, night vision, accelerated healing…”

Dina blinked. “Thanks for saving me about a hundred comics’ worth of backstory.”

Ellie held JJ out in front of her. “He also has the power of hypnotism.” She started rocking JJ side to side. “Youuuuuu wiiiiill giiiiiiive us treeeeeeeeeats,” she said in a deep voice.

“I suddenly feel like I should give you treats,” Dina said in a deadpan voice, trying her best to stifle her laughter. She picked up the basket on the sink and dropped a few more strawberries into the awaiting bowl. JJ again watched with great interest, but this time Ellie was ready to block his second attempt at the goods.

“Not yet bud. Besides, I haven’t gotten _my_ treat yet,” she said, looking up at Dina expectantly.

Dina stepped forward and pulled her in for a kiss — on the lips this time — which Ellie accepted with enthusiasm. Dina kept close when their lips eventually separated so she could murmur in Ellie’s ear. “I like Frost and Morbius, but I think you can come up with your own backstories. I need a minute for the next one anyway. See what you can come up with, okay?”

Ellie nodded and stepped back, leaving Dina enough room to slip out of the bathroom and into Ellie’s art room next to it. She closed the door behind her and got to work; this final costume change was a bit more involved. 

She pulled on the flannel that Ellie had left hanging on the back of her chair. Dina was still wearing the towel on her head, which got caught in her hair tie when she tried to take it off. Dina sighed in annoyance, but when she pulled the tie out and finally freed the towel from her head, she realised that this would work even better with her hair down. She shook her hair out, then tucked it into the back collar of the flannel so that it would look like Dina had shoulder-length hair from the front.

Next Dina approached Ellie’s art supplies, selecting a fine-tipped brush and opening a tube of brown paint. She painted a line that slashed through her right eyebrow then haphazardly dotted her cheeks and nose with more paint. She took Ellie’s painting apron off its hook and put it on over the flannel.

The final touch was the guitar that Dina had also brought up from downstairs earlier in the day. She retrieved it from its case and held it by its neck as she returned to the door. “Okay I’m ready!” she called. A moment later there was a knock at the door, and Dina opened it wide.

“Trick or treat! Sorry, he was fussing so much that I had to give him a bite of one of the strawberries. But it adds to the look, don’t you think?” Ellie was busy looking at JJ and pointing at the red juice leaking from the corners of his mouth that, Dina had to admit, did enhance his costume. Finally, Ellie looked up at her.

“Wait…” Ellie’s mouth dropped open. “Oh my god, are you ME?!”

Dina slouched her shoulders and dropped her voice to reply. “Fuck yeah I’m Ellie, who the fuck are you?”

“No fucking way,” Ellie said, blinking a couple of times before she burst out laughing.

Dina swung the body of the guitar up into her awaiting hand. “This fucking song goes out to Dina, the love of my fucking life, and the best fucking thing to ever happen to me,” she said loudly over Ellie’s laughter. She dragged her fingers across the strings in an incomprehensible chord and started to sing in an incredibly flat voice:

“My name is Ellie!

I love tickling JJ’s belly!

Even though his farts are smelly!”

“Oh. my. God.” Ellie managed to get out as she gasped between laughs, “Stop before I drop JJ!”

“JJ? I see no JJ here,” Dina said, making a show of looking past Ellie’s shoulder at the landing behind them. But she quickly put the guitar down and took their son out of Ellie’s arms so she could regain her composure without worrying about him.

Ellie leaned on the stair railing and bent over, holding her stomach until she managed to wind down to a manageable chuckle. “Fuck me, that was amazing.”

Dina grinned, bouncing JJ on her hip as Ellie looked back up at her. “Ellie is still waiting for the answer to her question. Who the fuck are you, and who the fuck is this?” Dina asked, booping JJ on the nose lightly.

“Oh right, sorry,” Ellie said, clearing her throat. “Uh, Ellie, it is my privilege to introduce you to Captain Spud the Incredible and Bloodthirsty,” she said, holding out a hand so JJ could grab onto her thumb. She crumpled to the ground, a dramatically pained expression on her face before she pulled her thumb free of his grasp.

“Ouch! As you can see, he has the strength of ten men. And he can knock anyone out cold with a single adorable smile,” she said, tickling his tummy so he laughed and showed off said smile.

“And the ‘Bloodthirsty’ part?” Dina prompted.

“Ah, that’s recently become a bit of a misnomer, actually. You see, he was bitten three hundred years ago, and spent most of his immortal life killing everyone who ever wronged him — you’d be surprised how many people thought it was a good idea to double-cross a vampire baby.”

Dina smiled. She wasn’t expecting such a detailed answer from Ellie, but found she was quite enjoying hearing the story of her immortal super-son.

“But six months ago, he met a beautiful badass called Dina,” Ellie continued in a much softer voice, “and she gave him so much love that he swore off violence. Now he’s a pacifist, and only uses his powers for cute baby things—” Ellie paused to yank the bowl of strawberries away from JJ as he made yet another move for them, “—like taking things before they are offered to him!! Quit it!”

Dina lifted JJ up and blew a raspberry onto his belly. He squealed in delight, all thoughts of strawberries forgotten for the moment. Dina smiled as she returned him to her hip. “Wow, did you come up with that whole thing while I was getting ready?”

Ellie nodded.

“Well, full points for creativity and execution. But what about you? What’s your deal?”

Ellie’s eyes widened. “Fuck! I spent all the time on his bit! Um…screw it. I’m Captain Spud’s immortal nanny, cursed to change stinky diapers until the end of time.” She paused to touch the beanie on her head. “Oh, and I’m having a bad hair day. Hence the hat.”

“I’ll take it,” Dina said with a laugh. “I have to say though, ‘Captain Spud the Incredible and Bloodthirsty’ is a bit of a mouthful. Can we just call him JJ?”

“Depends. How many treats do we get for the story?”

Dina grinned and reached beside her for the basket of strawberries. She tipped it upside down and emptied it into JJ’s bowl. “THAT many treats,” she said as she gently took the bowl from Ellie’s hands and set it down on the chair next to the door. 

“Well damn. If that’s what JJ gets, I can’t wait to get my—”

She was cut off mid-sentence as Dina stepped out of the doorway and pulled her in for a passionate kiss. She made sure to keep the arm holding JJ away from the embrace so he wouldn’t be squished like before. Ellie moaned into the kiss, wrapping her arms around Dina so she could hold her even tighter.

Eventually their lips parted, and Dina rested her forehead against Ellie’s.

“Did you like your treat?” Dina whispered.

Ellie was still slightly out of breath but grinned. “Yeah I did. I always wondered what it would be like to kiss me...now I know.”

Dina chuckled. “You’re so weird Ellie.”

“I know. That’s why you love me.”

“Yeah. That’s _totally_ why I love you.”

\---

A few hours later Dina’s hair was twisted up in her towel again. After they had finished trick-or-treating upstairs, Ellie went to make dinner while Dina gave JJ yet another bath — this time to get the grease out of his hair. As tended to be the way with baths involving JJ, Dina ended up getting a good rinsing herself. It was a good opportunity to wash the paint off her face anyway, so Dina didn’t complain too much.

Ellie and Dina had eaten their dinner and now all three of them were sitting on the couch. Dina was leaning against Ellie as she nursed a sleepy JJ. He had drank eagerly when he had first latched on, but now he was nestled against Dina’s chest and blinking slowly, a sure sign that he was only a few minutes away from nodding off.

“Fuck, it looks like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre down there,” Ellie commented in an amused tone. “We shouldn’t have given him the strawberries right before this.”

Dina looked down at the red juice smeared all over her breasts and snorted. “Eh, ya live and you learn. Now we know what not to do for next Halloween.” Dina paused. “...um, if there will be a next Halloween.”

Dina shyly looked up at Ellie. “Sorry for springing it on you. But I wasn’t sure that you’d go for it if it wasn’t a surprise. Did I...did I do okay?”

Dina held her breath as Ellie thought about it, but then Ellie looked down at her with a smile. “Yeah, you did. This...this was nice.” She adjusted their position on the couch, pulling Dina even closer to her. “But no surprises next year. I want to help. And choose JJ’s costume.”

“It’s going to be something super nerdy, isn’t it?”

“It is DEFINITELY going to be something super nerdy,” Ellie confirmed with a grin. “I did like his cape though,” she added, playing with the loose end of the fabric that JJ was currently clutching in his fist.

After Dina had finished with their baths, she had fished JJ’s costume from the pile of dirty clothes and unpinned the cape from his onesie. He had taken a liking to the material, and happily balled the fabric up in his hands when Dina had given it back to him. He hadn’t let go the whole time that they were eating dinner, and ended up taking it with him when they moved to the couch.

Is it…”

“Yeah,” Dina said cautiously, “it was from the theatre back in Seattle — the piece I used to sling your arm.”

“I thought so. I didn’t realise that you had kept it.”

“I tossed it in my backpack and completely forgot about it until we got back to Jackson. It grew on me, I guess.”

Ellie breathed deeply. “When I first saw it...it made me think of Jesse.”

Dina’s breath caught in her throat. “Me too, if I’m being honest. Is...is that okay?”

“It’s—”

“Because I can get rid of it if—”

“Di—”

“Shit, I should have asked before—”

“Dina!”

JJ burbled in protest at the sudden raised voice, and Dina soothed him by gently running her hand up and down his back.

“Sorry,” Ellie continued in a quieter voice, “I think it’ll be nice to have something connected to Jesse around the house. We do only have that one photo of him.”

Dina smiled. “Okay. Good, because I don’t think JJ would have let me take it from him anyway,” she said with a laugh.

Ellie let out a soft chuckle and they lapsed into a comfortable silence. In the quiet night, Dina could focus on the strong, reassuring sound of Ellie breathing behind her and the precious little puffs of breath coming from JJ below her.

“What’s the trick part?”

Dina blinked, the question snapping her out of her daze. “What?”

“The whole ‘trick or treat’ thing. I loved the treats, but what’s up with the trick?”

“Uh...good question. I have no idea. I don’t think my mom ever said. I guess you can give something other than a treat...maybe you could tell a joke? I dunno.”

“Oh hell yes, that would be awesome. Do you know any Halloween jokes?”

“They’re all terrible.”

“I am so fucking ready.”

“I’m definitely going to regret this,” Dina said, chuckling at the eager expression on Ellie’s face. “Okay. A witch and a vampire are dating. Why did they break up?”

Ellie smiled. “No idea. Why?”

“Because he was being a pain in the neck.”

Ellie laughed lightly. “Amazing. Tell me another one?”

“Okay, my mom loved this one. What treat do optometrists give out on Halloween?”

Ellie gave her a puzzled look.

“Oh uh, eye doctors,” Dina clarified quickly.

Ellie nodded, thought for a moment, then shrugged. “I dunno.”

“Candy corneas.”

“...I don’t get it.”

“A joke’s never funny when you explain it though.”

Ellie gave her a pleading look.

“Oh fine. So...there’s a part of your eye called the cornea. And there used to be a candy called candy corn.”

“Candy...corn,” Ellie repeated with a frown. “That sounds fucking gross. I’m with JJ on this one — I’d pick strawberries over that any day.”

At the mention of his name, they looked down at their son. He was now fully asleep on Dina’s chest, his tiny body rising and falling as Dina breathed in and out. They watched him for a few rounds of breathing before Ellie gently nuzzled the back of Dina’s head to regain her attention.

“Got any more for me?”

“There’s only one other one that I can remember. Um, why did the ghost’s bra fall down?”

Ellie smiled. “Tell me.”

“Because she didn’t have any boo-bies.”

“I love it,” Ellie said, leaning down towards Dina, “I love you.”

It was a bit awkward within their sitting arrangement on the couch, but Dina managed to turn her head enough for Ellie to kiss her. Ellie tasted like the whiskey she had along with her dinner. Like the strawberry she had swiped from JJ’s bowl when he wasn’t looking. Like Dina’s whole world.

Dina kept her eyes closed for a few seconds after their lips parted. When she finally opened them, she was surprised to see Ellie looking at her expectantly.

“Uh, yes?”

“I know a joke too.”

“Oh, okay. Let’s hear it then.”

Dina felt movement by her side and looked down. Ellie was absent-mindedly brushing her fingers against the moth part of her tattoo.

Dina’s attention was drawn back to Ellie’s face at the sound of her clearing her throat. “Um...what did the cannibal get when he showed up to the party late?”

“Huh, haven’t heard that one before. What did he get?”

“A cold shoulder.”

Dina threw her head back and gave Ellie a grin. “Best one of the night.”

“Fuck yeah. Yours were pretty good too though.”

“Happy Halloween, Ellie.”

Ellie smiled. “Happy Halloween, Dina.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, parallels between Dina/Ellie and Riley/Ellie make me sad but also so very fulfilled.
> 
> I know. Between this and the [latest chapter of Universe,](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26281306/chapters/66673042) we are having a very wholesome and soft weekend. Halloween feels very different in Australia this year, and it's not even that big of a deal over here. I hope this fic gives you some fun vibes for the occasion, and that you are well :)


End file.
